RENEWED OLYMPIC TALKS HIT STALEMATE

A second round of talks between officials of South and North Korea on next month's Olympics and easing tension plunged into a stalemate Saturday, with each side blaming the other for lack of progress.

But the five-member delegations agreed to meet again Monday at this truce village, 35 miles north of Seoul.After Saturday's talks, which lasted 2 hours and 35 minutes, 10 minutes less than Friday, the chief North Korean delegate, Chon Kum Chol, accused South Korea of being "insincere" and refusing to make concessions.

South Korean negotiators showed disappointment and said the current series of talks may fail to make a breakthrough in the icy relations between the two Koreas.

"It is up to them and any progress of the talks depends on how the North comes out on Monday," Park Joon-kyu, the chief South Korean delegate, said.

South Korea and North Korea are technically still at war, since no peace treaty was signed. More than 1 million heavily armed soldiers face each other across a 150-mile border.

Park said the current negotiations, which began Friday, may fall apart if North Korea shows no flexibility in Monday's talks.

"Our proposals presented today are final and we have nothing more to offer," he said.

With the Olympics only 28 days away, Park said North Korea was still clinging to its demand to co-host the Games, apparently to use it as a negotiating tool for its call for a non-aggression pact.

Park said the only solution is for the North to abandon its position and take part in the Games, which start Sept. 17. But he said he doubted the North would agree.

"I still think the chance of North Korea participating in the Seoul Games is one in a thousand," Park said.

He also said negotiations on the Olympics should be finished before the end of this month because of a Sept. 2 entry deadline, and proposed that an expanded meeting of lawmakers from both sides convene in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang on Aug. 29 to take up the Olympic issue.

North Korean officials did not respond to the proposal.

North Korea has said it will boycott the Olympics unless it is allowed to co-host the Games. South Korea fears the North may use terrorism to disrupt the Games.